PARIS – France’s Culture Ministry says French composer Francis Lai who won an Oscar for his iconic movie score in “Love Story,” has died. He was 86.

Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, who led nationwide tributes to Lai, who died on Wednesday, said he hopes to name “an emblematic place of our city” after the self-taught music legend who was born in the city in 1932.

Lai started as an accordionist but quickly rose through the ranks as a composer, writing songs for singers including Edith Piaf and Yves Montand.

It was after his meeting with French New Wave director Claude Lelouch in the 1960s that Lai turned to the silver screen and produced his most famous work.

“He was the man of my life, an angel disguised as an accordionist,” Lelouch said in an interview with RTL radio.

”We made 35 films together and we had a love story that lasted 50 years,” he added.

Lai also composed “A Man and a Woman” for 1966’s Academy Award-winning movie of the same name. It featured the well-known musical jingle “Ddabadabada.”

Lai’s success culminated with his 1970 Academy Award for the score of “Love Story,” one of the most enduring romantic movies of all time. Its main song “Where Do I Begin?” boasts household recognition even among those unfamiliar with the movie, thanks to popular vocal renditions by Andy Williams and Shirley Bassey.

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In this April 13, 2012 photo, Roy Clark smirks after joking around during his 79th birthday show at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Catoosa, Okla. Clark, the guitar virtuoso and singer who headlined the cornpone TV show "Hee Haw" for nearly a quarter century and was known for such hits as “Yesterday When I was Young” and “Honeymoon Feeling,” has died. He was 85. Publicist Jeremy Westby said Clark died Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018, due to complications from pneumonia at home in Tulsa, Okla. Tulsa World File, Tulsa World via AP

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In this Sept. 22, 1994, file photo, american playwright Neil Simon answers questions during an interview in Seattle, Wash. Simon, a master of comedy whose laugh-filled hits such as "The Odd Couple," "Barefoot in the Park" and his "Brighton Beach" trilogy dominated Broadway for decades, died on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. He was 91. Gary Stuart, AP

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French chef Joel Robuchon poses for photographs in the kitchen of the Hotel de Ville in Crissier, Switzerland on Dec. 17, 2013. According to media reports, Joel Robuchon has died on Aug. 6, 2018 after a long illness. He was 73. Christian Brun, Keystone EPA-EFE

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Joe Jackson arrives for the screening of 'Sicario' during the 68th annual Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France on May 19, 2015. Joe Jackson, the man who fathered Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 and deployed an iron will to turn his supremely gifted children into a culture-shifting music powerhouse, died early June 27, 2018. He was 89. Franck Robichon, EPA

This undated image released by History shows Richard Harrison from "Pawn Stars." Harrison's son Rick posted on Facebook, June 25, 2018, that his father died. He said his father was surrounded by family over the weekend. He was 77. The Navy veteran opened the Gold & Silver Pawn store in Las Vegas with his son, Rick. The TV show premiered in 2009 and features the Harrisons interacting with customers who are trying to sell or pawn objects. History via AP

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Pulitzer Prize-winning political commentator Charles Krauthammer gives a press conference prior to speaking in the Junior League of York's "In the Spotlight" Speaker Series on Feb. 26, 2014, at the Yorktowne Hotel in York, Pa. The conservative writer and pundit Krauthammer has died. His death was announced Thursday, June 21, 2018, by two media organizations that employed him, Fox News Channel and The Washington Post. He was 68. Chris Dunn, Daily Record/Sunday News

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San Francisco 49ers receiver Dwight Clark on the sideline. Clark, the former 49ers wide receiver whose reception known as "The Catch" sent San Francisco to its first Super Bowl, has died one year after revealing he had ALS. He was 61. The team said Clark died Monday, June 4, 2018, surrounded by friends and family. Richard Mackson, USA TODAY Sports

This undated photo shows Alan Bean posing in front of a LM mock-up at the NASA-Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fl. Bean, who was the fourth person to walk on the moon, passed away on May 26, 2018, aged 86. NASA via EPA-EFE

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Swedish musician, DJ, remixer and record producer Avicii performs at the Summerburst music festival at Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden on May 30, 2015. According to media reports on 20 April 2018, it was confirmed that Avicii died in Muscat, Oman. He was 28. Bjorn Larsson Rosvall, TT News Agency via EPA-EFE

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NPR newscaster Carl Kasell, best known for his work on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me" in a career spanning decades, has died of complications from Alzheimer's disease in Potomac, Md. He was 84. Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

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Daedra Charles of the Los Angeles Sparks in action during a game against the Utah Starzz at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, Calif. on July 11, 1997. Daedra Charles-Furlow, known as Daedra Charles when she played for Tennessee from 1988-91, a women's basketball Hall of Famer who played on Tennessee's 1989 and 1991 national championship teams, has died. She was 49. Harry How, Getty Images

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Linda Smith, the former Linda Brown, stands in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kan., on May 8, 1964. The refusal of the public school to admit Brown in 1951, then age 9, because she is black led to the Brown v. Board of Education court case. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the "separate but equal" clause and mandated that schools nationwide must be desegregated. Brown, the Kansas girl at the center of the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down racial segregation in schools, has died at age 76. Peaceful Rest Funeral Chapel of Topeka confirmed that Linda Brown died Sunday, March 25, 2018. AP

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In this file photo taken on May 9, 2016, actor David Ogden Stiers attends a special screening and panel discussion of "Beauty and the Beast" to celebrate the animated film's 25th anniversary at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California.
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Prince Consort Henrik of Denmark presents his new collection of poems 'Roue-Libre' (Freewheel) at the Royal Yacht in Copenhagen, Denmark on June 16, 2010. Prince Henrik of Denmark has died at the age of 83. In 2017, he was diagnosed with dementia and was recently hospitalized after falling ill in Egypt. He returned to Denmark for a stay in the Rigshospitale in Copenhagen, and during a series of examinations a benign tumor was discovered on his left lung. His condition worsened and, according to media reports, he passed away in his sleep at Fredensborg Palace on the evening of Feb. 13, 2018. Prince Henrik is survived by his wife, two sons and eight grandchildren. Keld Navntoft, Scanpix Denmark via EPA-EFE

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Dennis Edwards of The Temptations performs during NMAAM 2016 Black Music Honors on Aug. 18, 2016 in Nashville, Tenn. Edwards, a former member of the famed Motown group has died. He was 74. Rosiland Triche Roberts, his longtime booking agent, says Edwards died on Feb. 1, 2018 in Chicago after a long illness Terry Wyatt, Getty Images for National Museum of African American Music

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In this 1974 file photo, Cleveland Indians baseball player Oscar Gamble poses. Gamble, an outfielder who hit 200 home runs over 17 major league seasons, died on Jan. 31, 2018, of a rare tumor of the jaw. He was 68. AP

In this March 13, 2015 file photo, Mark Salling arrives at the 32nd annual Paleyfest "Glee" in Los Angeles. Salling, one of the stars of the Fox musical comedy 'Glee' died, on Jan. 30, 2018. He was 35. Salling's lawyer, Michael J. Proctor did not release the cause of death. Richard Shotwell, Invision/AP

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In this Aug. 16, 2010 file photo, Mort Walker, the artist and author of the Beetle Bailey comic strip, stands in his studio in Stamford, Conn. On Jan. 27, 2018, a family member said the comic strip artist has died. He was 94. Craig Ruttle, AP

In this May 30, 1980 file photo, presidential hopeful Sen. Edward Kennedy, left, responds with a laugh after a greeting by Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin before Kennedy spoke to the congregation at the Stephen Wise Temple, in Los Angeles. Zeldin, who founded a synagogue in Los Angeles more than 50 years ago that became one of the largest Reform congregations in the country, has died at 97. The Stephen Wise Temple announced on its website that Zeldin died Friday night, Jan. 26, 2018, at his home in Palm Desert, Calif. Reed Saxon, AP

In this Sept. 11, 1977 file photo, Louis Gossett Jr., kisses co-star Olivia Cole, as she holds one of the nine Emmys awarded to the cast and crew of the TV drama "Roots," at the Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences awards show in Los Angeles. A funeral association official says that Cole died of a heart attack on Jan. 19, 2018, at her home in San Miguel de Allende, a city in central Mexico. She was 75. AP

This September 1955 file photo provided by the Roland Giduz Photographic Collection/The Wilson Library at UNC Chapel Hill, shows from left, LeRoy Frasier, John Lewis Brandon and Ralph Frasier on the steps of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C. Brandon, who along with brothers Ralph and LeRoy Frasier was among the first African-American undergraduate students to successfully challenge racial segregation at North Carolina's flagship public university, died of complications from cancer on Jan. 23, 2018. He was 80. Roland Giduz Photographic Collection/The Wilson Library at UNC Chapel Hill via AP

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British singer Mark E. Smith, of the band The Fall performs at the Primavera Sound 2010 music festival in Barcelona, Spain on May 27, 2010. Mark E Smith, lead singer for the post-punk band, the Fall, has died at the age of 60. Marta Perez, EPA-EFE

Ursula Le Guin American author of novels, children's books, is seen in a Sept. 9, 2001 photo at home in Portland, Ore. Le Guin, the award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer who explored feminist themes and was best known for her Earthsea books, died peacefully Jan. 22, 2018, in Portland, Oregon, according to a brief family statement posted to her verified Twitter account. She was 88. Benjamin Brink, The Oregonian via AP

In this 2001 photo, Nicanor Parra poses for a portrait during a commemoration in honor of Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro, in Cartagena, Chile. Parra, a Chilean physicist, mathematician and self-described anti-poet whose eccentric writings won him a leading place in Latin American literature, died Jan. 23, 2018. He was 103. Alvaro Hoppe, AP

In this July 30, 1981 photo, John Coleman, weather channel founder, right, and Frank Batten, publisher of the Norfolk, Va., Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star, and chairman and chief executive of Landmark Communications, Inc., are seen during a news conference in New York. John Coleman, the founder of The Weather Channel and longtime KUSI weatherman, died Saturday night, Jan. 20, 2018, at home in Las Vegas, said his wife Linda Coleman. He was 83. Marty Lederhandler, AP

In this March 24, 2011 file French Chef Paul Bocuse poses outside his famed Michelin three-star restaurant L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges in Collonges-au-Mont-d'or, central France. French interior minister announced Jan.20, 2018 that Paul Bocuse, a master of French cuisine, has died at 91. Laurent Cipriani, AP

In an April 29, 2006 file photo, Hugh Masekela performs during the 2006 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans. A family statement issued on Twitter Jan. 23, 2018, says South African jazz musician and anti-apartheid activist Hugh Masekela, 78, passed away in Johannesburg after a lengthy battle against prostate cancer. Jeff Christensen, AP

In this Feb. 9, 2011, file photo, The Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR, Founding Chairman Dr. Mathilde Krim attends amfAR's annual New York Gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Krim, a prominent AIDS researcher who galvanized worldwide support in the early fight against the deadly disease, died Jan. 15, 2018. She was 91. Evan Agostini, AP

In a Sept. 25, 1963 photo, The Rev. Martin Luther King,Jr., left, VP Joseph E. Lowery, and Wyatt Tee Walker, right, executive director of the SCLC meet at First African Baptist Church, for the SCLC convention in Richmond, Va. The Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, who helped assemble the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "Letter From Birmingham Jail" from notes the incarcerated King wrote on paper scraps and newspaper margins, died Jan. 23, 2018, in Chester, Va., said his daughter Patrice Walker Powell. He was either 88 or 89. Family records showed different years of birth, said Powell, who confirmed his death. Carl Lynn, Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP

This March 27, 1957, file photo shows Best supporting Oscar winners Dorothy Malone and Anthony Quinn posing at the Academy Awards in Hollywood, Calif. Malone, who won hearts of 1960s television viewers as the long-suffering mother in the nighttime soap "Peyton Place," has died. Her daughter Mimi Vanderstraaten says Malone died Jan. 19, 2018, from natural causes in her hometown of Dallas. She was 93. AP

In this June 10, 2014 file photo, Edwin Hawkins appears at the Apollo Theater Spring Gala and 80th Anniversary Celebration in New York. Hawkins, the gospel star best known for the crossover hit 'Oh Happy Day,' died Jan. 15, 2018, at his home in Pleasanton, Calif., at age 74. He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer. Brad Barket, Invision/AP

This Feb. 4, 1979 file photo shows CIA Director Stansfield Turner. Stansfield A. Turner, who as CIA director under President Jimmy Carter oversaw reforms at the agency in the wake of the scandal uncovered by the Church Committee, has died. He was 94. Turner's secretary, Pat Moynihan, confirmed to the Washington Post that Turner died on Jan. 18, 2018 at his home in Seattle but Moynihan did not disclose the cause. AP

JoJo White of the Boston Celtics poses for a portrait in 1974 at the Boston Garden in Boston, Mass. Basketball Hall of Famer Jo Jo White, a two-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and an Olympic gold medalist, has died. He was 71. The Celtics announced his death Jan. 16, 2018. Dick Raphael, NBAE/Getty Images

In this Jan. 27, 2008 file photo, Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan performs during the European Border Breakers awards, or EBBA awards, in Cannes, southern France. O'Riordan, lead singer of Irish band The Cranberries died on Jan. 15, 2018. She was 46. Bruno Bebert, AP

In this Jan. 25, 2014, file photo, Keith Jackson arrives at 66th Annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Jackson, the down-home voice of college football during more than five decades as a broadcaster, died on Jan. 12, 2018. He was 89. Richard Shotwell, Invision/AP

This undated photo released by Disney, shows Disney Mouseketeer Doreen Tracey. Tracey, a former child star who played one of the original cute-as-a-button Mouseketeers on "The Mickey Mouse Club" in the 1950s, died from pneumonia on Jan. 10, 2018, at a hospital in Thousand Oaks, Calif., following a two-year battle with cancer, according to Disney publicist Howard Green. She was 74. Disney via AP

In this Jan. 7, 2005, file photo, Edgar Ray Killen sits in court in Philadelphia, Miss. Killen, a former Ku Klux Klan leader who was convicted in the 1964 "Mississippi Burning" slayings of three civil rights workers, died in prison at the age of 92, the state's corrections department announced on Jan. 12, 2018. Rogelio V. Solis, AP

Ray Thomas from The Moody Blues performs live on stage at Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 27, 1978. Thomas, one of the founding members of the Moody Blues, died suddenly on Jan. 4, 2018. He was 76. Richard E. Aaron, Redferns via Getty

In this Aug. 25, 1992 file photo, Jerry Van Dyke, left, and his brother, Dick, laugh during a party in Los Angeles. Manager said Jan. 6, 2018, that Jerry Van Dyke, 'Coach' star and younger brother of comedian Dick Van Dyke, has died in Arkansas at 86. Manager, John Castonia, said Van Dyke died Friday at his ranch in Hot Spring County. His wife, Shirley Ann Jones, was by his side. Chris Martinez, AP

In this Dec.18,1984, file photo, United Motor Manufacturing Co. President Tatsuro Toyoda gets in the drivers seat of the newly unveiled sporty 4-door subcompact "Nova" in the new Fremont, Calif., United Motor Manufacturing Co. plantjointly jowned by General Motors and Toyota. Toyoda, a former president of Toyota Motor Corp., who led its climb to rank among the worlds top automakers, and the son of the Japanese automakers founder, has died. He was 88. Paul Sakuma, AP

This undated photo made available by NASA shows astronaut John Young. NASA says the astronaut, who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, died on Jan. 5, 2018. He was 87. NASA via AP

In this April 4, 2015, file photo, President Thomas S. Monson, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, waves to the audience during the opening session of the Mormon church conference in Salt Lake City. Monson, the 16th president of the Mormon church, died after nine years in office. He was 90. Rick Bowmer, AP

In this Jan. 25, 2014, file photo, Rick Hall attends The 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards - Special Merit Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles. Hall, an Alabama record producer who recorded some of the biggest musical acts of the 1960s and `70s and helped develop the fabled "Muscle Shoals sound," died Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018, following a fight with cancer, his longtime friend Judy Hood said. He was 85. Todd Williamson, Invision/AP